Latex glove method and apparatus for making the same

ABSTRACT

An elastomeric surgical glove with an improved ring rolled cuff and a method and apparatus to produce the cuff is disclosed. The ring rolled cuff comprises alternating tightly rolled segments with loosely rolled segments. The ring rolled cuff is made by contacting the uncured glove on the glove form with a plurality of rotating wheels while the wheels are moved on the form from the wrist end of the form toward the hand end of the form. The portions of the cuff in contact with the wheels are tightly rolled, and the remaining portions are loosely rolled.

This application is a division of application No. 129,543 filed Mar. 12,1980 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,987.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Surgical or medical gloves are manufactured by dipping hand-shaped gloveforms into a liquid bath containing an elastomeric material such as arubber latex or a vinyl plastisol. The forms are withdrawn from thebath, and a coating or film of the elastomeric material is retained onthe form. The elastomeric material is allowed to cure, usually with theapplication of heat, and the gloves are subsequently stripped from theforms for packaging and distribution.

The glove forms are made in the shape of a hand and are mounted onracks. The racks containing the forms are conveyed through variousstations to apply the elastomeric material to the form to wash thecoated forms to remove undesirable ingredients from the elastomer on theforms and to an oven where the elastomer is cured.

Some surgical or medical gloves are manufactured with a rolled cuff orcircumferential bead around the cuff to aid in donning the glove and inpreventing the glove from rolling down the wrist when in use. Othersurgical and medical gloves are manufactured with a patterned wrist orcuff which inhibits cuff roll-down, which has been recognized as aproblem with beaded cuffs. The pattern of the wrist portion of suchgloves is usually made by providing the desired pattern on the gloveforms used in making the gloves. The forms employed to make thepatterned cuff are considerably more expensive than a smooth glove form.The patterned gloves are also difficult to strip from the form becauseof adhesion of the glove film to the form in the interstices in thepattern on the form. Patterned gloves of this type are disclosed in U.S.Pat. Nos. 2,821,718 and 4,095,293. The previously available ring rollingmechanisms were complex mechanisms which moved around the glove form inmaking the ring rolled cuff, or in which the glove form was rotatedaround the ring rolling mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,418 discloses aring rolling mechanism of the latter type. Because of the relativemotion of the ring rolling mechanism and the forms, the individual gloveforms were separated from each other on the rack by a considerabledistance to allow the ring rolling mechanism to move around the form.

The separation of the forms on the rack to allow for the ring rollingmechanism reduced the number of glove forms that could be mounted on arack. Since the glove making process is essentially a batch process, theoverall production rate of the process is limited by the number of gloveforms that can be mounted on a rack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an improved apparatus of forming a ringrolled cuff on a surgical or medical glove. The present applicationallows glove forms to be mounted closer together on a rack, whichresults in greater production rates from a glove making production line.The present invention provides a ring rolling apparatus having multiplerollers or wheels each of which contacts a limited area on the freewrist end portion of the elastomeric film on the glove form and rollsthat portion onto itself to form a number of densely rolled segments inthe bead on the cuff end of the glove. The continuity of the elastomericfilm allows those portions of the film of the cuff end of the glove,which is not in contact with the rollers, to be gathered into looselyrolled segments in the bead. The resulting glove has a rolled ring orbead which is composed of a number of individual tightly or denselyrolled segments separated by a number of individual loosely rolledsegments. The glove formed in this manner has a greater resistance toroll down in use than a glove with a uniformly rolled bead.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified side view of the present apparatus showing thering rolling apparatus and the relative location of the glove forms inphantom.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1, again showing theglove form in phantom.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 1 showing the locationof the camming mechanism to move the ring rollers to a ready position.

FIG. 4 is a view of one of the ring rollers moving on its support arm toits operative position.

FIGS. 5-7 are schematic views showing the operating positions of thering rollers in relation to the glove forms.

FIG. 8 is a detailed view, partly in section, of one of the ringrollers.

FIG. 9 is a top view of the ring roll formed on the glove with therelative position of the rollers shown in phantom.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the ring roll on the glove.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is employed in a standard glove manufacturingprocess. The process that will hereinafter be described is that processemployed in the manufacture of gloves from natural or synthetic rubberlatex. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that if adifferent film forming elastomer is employed, certain of the processsteps may be modified or eliminated entirely.

A number of glove forms are fixed to a rack which carries the formsthrough the various steps or stages of the process. The individual gloveforms have the configuration of a hand and are made of aluminum,porcelain or other suitable material. The glove forms are either rightor left handed. The rack is transferred from the various stations orstages in the process by a conveyor.

The glove forms may be coated with a release agent to allow for the easyremoval of the completely finished glove. The forms are then dipped orsprayed with a coagulant for the rubber latex. The forms are then dippedinto a tank of the latex with the finger portion of the forms pointeddown, and the latex coagulates on the form. The forms are removed fromthe tank producing an uncured latex film on the form. The forms may bedipped into the same latex tank or into other latex tanks to build upthe desired thickness of latex film on the form. The rack carrying theforms is then dipped into a washing solution which removes undesirableingredients from the latex film. The forms are then conveyed to astation where the ring roll or bead is produced on the wrist portion ofthe form. The forms are then conveyed to an oven where the latex iscured by the application of heat. The completed gloves are then strippedfrom the forms and reversed so that the latex film in contact with theform becomes the outer surface of the finished glove. The glove may alsobe stamped with a symbol to indicate the size of the glove and may bedusted with a lubricating powder to aid in donning the glove.

Referring to the drawings, a number of individual glove forms 11 areshown supported on a rack 12. The rack 12 is supported in the properposition in relation to the ring rolling mechanism by rails 31 attachedto an upper frame 30. Individual glove forms are attached to the rack bya suitable fastener. The ring rolling mechanism is supported on a base13. The base 13 and the rack 12 are mounted so that they may be moved ina vertical direction relative to each other. This is most easilyaccomplished by mounting the base 13 on a support so that the base 13and the ring rolling mechanism can be moved downwardly while the rack 12remains in a fixed position.

The following description refers to the one side of FIG. 1. It is to beunderstood that the apparatus of the other side of FIG. 1 is a mirrorimage of the side shown.

There is a drive shaft 14 mounted in bearing blocks 15 which in turn aremounted on the base 13. The shaft is rotated by a drive means 27.Attached to the shaft 14, through free-turning bearings, are a series ofroller arms 16. Each of the arms 16 is independently mounted on theshaft 14 through the free turning bearings. The independent mounting ofthe arms allows each arm to move the required distance to allow thesurface of each wheel to achieve maximum surface contact with aparticular form even if the particular form is misaligned on the rack.At the upper end of each roller arm 16 a roller 17 is attached through afree-turning bearing. The roller is in the shape of a truncated conewith a drive ring 18 below the base of the cone. A drive belt 19 isaffixed around the drive ring 18 and a drive sheave 20 which is keyedonto shaft 14. The drive belt 19 may be a circular belt, as shown in thedrawings, or may be a V-belt or a tooth rubber belt. The rotation of theshaft 14 will turn the rollers 17 through the drive belt 19.

Each individual roller 17 is made of a polyurethane polymer whichprovide a surface which will engage the latex film to produce the ringroll. The polyurethane wheel must have adequate hardness for durabilityin use but be sufficiently soft to grip the latex film. A Shore ADurometer hardness of about 55 is preferred. The face of the rollerwhich contacts the form should be cut to present the maximum surfacearea to the form. When using four rollers per form, as shown in thedrawings, the face of the roller is cut at an angle of 45 degrees.Although it is possible to use more or less than four rollers, it hasbeen found that four rollers give good controllability of the ringrolling process while allowing for the maximum number of forms on arack.

There are a series of cams 21 mounted on a fixed shaft 22. There is onecam 21 for each pair of roller arms 16 on each side of the unit. Thecams 21 can be moved through a cam shaft actuator arm 23 by the actionof cam actuating cylinder 24 which is mounted on the base 13 with anappropriate bracket 25. The cam actuating cylinder may be powered by airor hydraulic fluid. The purpose of the cam system is to move the rollerarms 16 away from the glove forms 11 after the ring rolling operationhas been completed. This is accomplished by the piston 26 of the camactuating cylinder pushing the cam 21 against the roller arm 16. Thiscauses the lower portion of the roller arm to rotate around the shaft 14and move the upper portion of the roller arm carrying the roller 17 awayfrom the form 11.

The operation of the ring rolling apparatus will best be understood withparticular reference to FIGS. 5-7.

The rack 12 contains a number of glove forms 11 aligned in a row. Theforms have previously been dipped in latex, and the latex-bearing formshave been washed to remove undesirable ingredients before the rack 12reaches the ring rolling station. Each form is covered with an uncuredlatex film 32 in the shape of the form. When the rack reaches the ringrolling station, it actuates a switch, not shown, which starts the ringrolling process. The position of the rack 12, relative to the ringrolling device, is shown in FIG. 2 at the start of the process. Theprocess starts with the rotation of the shaft 14 which turns the drivesheaves 20 which are keyed into the shaft 14. The drive belts 19 on thedrive sheaves transmit power to the rollers 17 in the direction of thearrows. The cam 21 has been removed from contact with the arms 16, thus,allowing the arms 16 to freely pivot about the shaft 14. The rotation ofthe rollers 17 in the direction of the arrows causes the roller arms 16to rotate around shaft 14 and bring the rollers 17 into contact with theform 11, as shown in FIG. 6. The rollers 17 first contact the forms 11at a point on the forms which is above the latex dip level shown at 29in FIG. 5. At the same time, the base 13 begins to move downwardly tomove the rollers 17 down the form from the latex dip level 29 toward thefingers of the glove, as shown in FIG. 7. When the rollers have moveddown the form the required distance to produce the ring roll, the camactuating cylinders 24 are activated by appropriate switches to move thecam actuator arms 23 and the cams 21 into contact with the lower portionof the arms 16. The cams 21 move the lower portion of the arms 16 towardthe center line of the apparatus causing the upper portion of the armsto rotate around the shaft and carry the rollers 17 away from the form11.

The rollers 17 form the ring roll on the glove by rolling the latex filmon the form onto itself. As the free edge of the glove at the dip line29 is rolled, the relative vertical movement of the glove form 11 andthe rollers 17 causes the ring first formed to enlarge as more of thefilm is rolled. The size of the ring roll can be controlled by adjustingthe total vertical movement of the form.

The ring roll or bead formed on the cuff of the glove has theconfiguration shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 of the drawings. In that portionof the ring roll that has been directly contacted by the rollers 17, thering is tightly rolled as shown at 27. The portions of the ring rollbetween the tightly rolled portions are comparatively loosely rolled asshown at 28. FIG. 9 shows the relative position of the rollers 17 inrelation to the tightly or densely rolled segments 27 and the looselyrolled segments of the ring rolled cuff.

When the glove is worn by a surgeon, there is a noticeable reducedtendency for the glove to roll down the surgeon's wrist. It is believedthat the pillow-like loosely rolled portions 28 of the ring roll createa greater surface area in contact with the cuff on the surgeon's gown.It appears that more force is required to roll down the cuff of theglove, much as an underinflated automobile tire requires more force toroll than a properly inflated tire.

I claim:
 1. Apparatus to form a ring rolled bead on the cuff of anelastomeric glove applied to the surface of a glove form comprising:arack containing a plurality of glove forms, a pair of drive shaftslocated on opposite sides of the rack containing said glove forms, aseries of arms independently mounted on each of the shafts through freeturning bearings, a wheel located on the free end of each of the arms,means to rotate the wheels, means to move the free ends of arms towardand away from the forms, and means to move the forms relative to thecenter of rotation of the wheels so that the wheels first contact thewrist portion of the glove form and move toward the hand portion of theglove form.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein each series of arms isdivided into pairs, a pair of said arms being located on each side ofthe glove forms, a cam positioned adjacent the free turning bearing ofeach of said arms and being movable to contact said arms and rotate thearms about said free turning bearings to move the wheel end of the armin a direction away from said forms.
 3. An apparatus to form a ringrolled bead on the cuff of an elastomeric glove applied to the surfaceof a glove form having a wrist portion and a hand portion comprising:arack containing a plurality of glove forms, a pair of drive shaftsspaced apart from each other on opposite sides of a support frame, aseries of arms independently mounted on each of the shafts through freeturning bearings, means to move said rack containing said glove formsbetween the opposite sides of said support frame to position individualglove forms adjacent the arms, a wheel at the free end of each of saidarms, means to rotate the wheels, means to move the wheels into contactwith the glove forms, means to move the support frame relative to saidrack to move said wheels in a direction from the wrist portion of saidglove forms toward the hand portion of said glove forms, means to movethe wheels out of contact with said glove forms after the support framehas moved relative to the rack a predetermined distance.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3 in which the face of each of said wheels contactingthe glove forms is at an angle of 45°.